https://sports.yahoo.com/plaschke-lo...181103857.html
Plaschke nails it. 99%, anyway.
As an LA writer, I get how he paints only the Dodgers as the victims of the BlackStros' cheating. I mean, that much was clear, right before our retrospective yes. But even as a Dodger fan, I can absolutely acknowledge that it's not as simple as "the Dodgers would've won if not for Houston's cheating." Rather, at a minimum, the cheating deprived both the Yankees and Dodgers a chance at a World Series title. We could take it further to wonder how much the cheating affected the 2017 AL standings. Perhaps, if they weren't cheating, they win 8 or 10 fewer games and they don't have home field advantage against - or don't even advance to face - either the Red Sox or Yankees. We'll never know...
At any rate, Plaschke nails it best here...
"In the wake of a disgustingly miniscule penalty from Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred, the Astros organization was essentially unpunished and clearly unapologetic."
... and here:
"The franchise kept the trophy. The players kept their rings. Their playoff shares have long been banked. The Astros were fined $5 million and draft picks and they shrugged and kept winning. They beat the system. They beat the rap..."
The 2017 cheating scandal is as much a stain on Manfred as it is the BlackStros. If they win it all this year, the media will likely want to go with the
redemption and
finally time to move on angles. They shouldn't.